


Family Love is Never Broken

by dragonflysobright_seethemfly



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Gen, IR never happens, Kid Fic, Original Character(s), Thunderbirds AU, Tracy's stay in Kansas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:42:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24587794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonflysobright_seethemfly/pseuds/dragonflysobright_seethemfly
Summary: After his mother’s death, Alan is sent to England to live with his grandparents. When he comes back to Kansas 9 years later after his grandparents died he struggles to fit in at school and with his family so his teacher comes up with a plan to help.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	Family Love is Never Broken

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest I"ve been working on this idea for about 2 years and I finally got tired of staring at it thinking its not good enough yet to post so I'm going to post now while my confidence is up. Sorry for any errors, I had a friend proof read but I don't have a beta. I am also new to Ao3 so if I do something wrong let me know :) 
> 
> Scott-13 John-11 Virgil-9 Gordon-8 Alan-3

Jeff Tracy looked down at the new gravestone with his wife’s name engraved upon it and tried to blink away the tears filling his eyes. He’d never imagined something like this could happen to him. She’d been right by his side only a few days ago and then she was gone so suddenly. He felt like the world was tilted and he was struggling to regain his footing. There hadn’t been much for Jeff to do to prepare for the funeral because Lucy had plans set in place of what she wanted in the event of her death but Jeff was still distracting himself any way he could. The hardest thing had been letting Lucy’s parents know about their daughter’s death because speaking the words out loud only made them more real. Jeff knew Lucy’s parents had never been thrilled with his and Lucy’s marriage and he couldn’t deal with their disapproval on top of everything else. His in-laws had caught the next available flight and arrived only an hour before the funeral started. They stood back with the other attendees while only Jeff and his sons stood a couple feet in front of the crowd. Jeff’s own parents were at the funeral of course but because his dad's cancer had recently returned, they had been out of town at doctor appointments and unable to provide much support for the grieving family. The ceremony was closed casket so many pictures of Lucy at various times in her life had been placed on stands beside the gravestone. 

Jeff was so consumed in his own grief that he was only vaguely aware that his five sons were standing behind him. Scott held Alan’s hand and Gordon was clinging to John as they stood in a line beside their father. The Tracy boys had never held this still for this long and that right there was a sign of the emotional distress they were in..Some of the reason behind the boys distance was they were afraid was anything could set their father off. He had snapped at Gordon earlier that day when the boy had approached asking for help with his tie. Scott had intervened quickly and after that kept his brothers occupied and away from their father. The day was too hot and sunny for a normal September in Kansas and the boys were overheating in the suits Scott had made them all wear. After the casket had been lowered and they had all dropped a handful of dirt into the hole, Jeff turned and headed straight for the car desperate to get somewhere private before he lost his composure. It was all Scott could do to get all his little brothers into the car before their father drove off without them.No words were spoken between any of the Tracy’s as they drove away from the gravesite and headed home. The other attendees, friends of the family watched them go sadly, resolving to do what they could to help ease the pain of the grieving family. When asked later, none of the boys remembered much of the actual funeral. The day had passed in a blur of heat, noise, and loneliness. 

After Lucy’s death, home became drastically different. Alan didn’t understand the reason behind the change. All he knew was that Scott had told him that mommy was an angel in heaven but after that no one ever mentioned her. Jeff was trying to keep himself busy by working from home and taking care of every little thing that could keep his mind off his wife’s death. He had already been expanding his company by buying a building in New York that would be closer to the consumers than Kansas. This meant that Jeff was often on phone calls or video conferences. This had left the responsibility of taking care of the house and the kids on Scott’s young shoulders. This sudden, unexpected pressure left Scott grumpier than Alan had ever seen him. When Alan discovered a frog out in the garden he’d brought it inside to show Scott but Scott had yelled at Alan for dripping mud onto the floor Scott had just mopped. What Alan didn’t understand because it hadn’t been explained was that when Scott was suddenly forced into the responsibility of taking care of everything he didn’t have the time or patience to deal with every little thing. The change wasn’t just occuring in Scott though. Alan noticed that where his father and brothers had been excited and playful before, now they were harsh and distant. His big brothers used to have patience for Alan’s childish mistakes and would help him keep up with them but now they never seemed to slow down; they were always rushing everywhere and refused to slow down to explain anything which meant Alan was by himself more than he ever had been before. When Alan questioned anything Scott told him to him, Scott’s reply was impatient. 

During this time Henry and Patricia Taylor had made plans to stay in town for a week so they could spend time with their grandchildren since they lived so far away the boys didn’t really know them. And what they were seeing worried them. In the short time since the funeral it had become apparent to Patricia every time they showed up at the house that the boys weren’t being taken care of. She grew more worried the longer she observed the new normal in the Tracy household. Jeff was mostly absent, still around the house but not involved with caring for his sons. He would lock himself in his bedroom and work on his laptop from the moment he woke up to the time he went to bed with only a couple quick trips downstairs for food throughout the day. Scott had taken over that role of caregiver but at his young age he was not able to fully provide for the needs of all his younger brothers. John had gone quiet, not speaking and barely reacting to anything like his mind was always elsewhere so he wasn’t much help for Scott. Gordon and Virgil on the other hand, were expressing their grief through acting out and being loud which meant more of Scott’s attention was going towards controlling them and since John was older and able to take care of himself more it was little Alan that was getting neglected. Alan’s behaviour had been more subdued than usual because he could tell that something was making his father and brothers sad even if he didn’t understand why. 

After observing the Tracy’s for a while, Henry and Patricia agreed that they needed to intervene somehow. The couple talked it over quietly together and decided that because they didn’t know how Jeff would react that they needed to get Child Protective Services involved first. They didn’t want to hurt Jeff’s feelings more than necessary, they just wanted to protect Alan. CPS agreed with the grandparents assessment and assigned a social worker to start an investigation. Her name was Amelia Davies but she told the boys to call her Miss Amelia. Jeff was predictably upset but it was mostly just his pride and there was nothing he could do to stop the investigation. Scott took the lead from his father and he gave her the cold shoulder and tried to keep his brothers away from her but after a week of having no one pay attention to him, Alan was basking in Miss Amelia’s attention. After investigating and observing the Tracy family for almost a week, it was determined that the situation the boys were in wasn’t safe so Miss Amelia and the Taylors together went to confront Jeff. He fought against the accusation a little but eventually agreed that Alan could go live with his grandparents. CPS decided they were ok with leaving the four older boys with Jeff as long as he showed he would be involved as a parent again.They warned him that they would be making frequent visits to check in on him and the boys.  
So Alan packed up all his belongings and moved to England with his grandparents who he didn’t really know but Alan was open to anyone who would pay him attention these days. After learning that they were getting custody of their youngest grandson, Patricia and Henry had flown back to London early to prepare their home for Alan’s arrival. Miss Amelia accompanied Alan on the flight across the Atlantic to deliver him to his new home. After Alan moved to England hIs knowledge of his father’s side of the family came from what his grandparents told him and old pictures he had brought with him because his father and brothers didn’t make much of an effort to stay in touch. Jeff and the older boys were allowed to have phone calls and visits with Alan but the visits never actually happened and Jeff’s excuse was that he didn’t want to disrupt any of the boys’ schooling to travel so far away. Phone calls and video chats were sporadic and the time between them grew longer as the years went on. They had video chatted maybe seven times in the whole nine years he had lived with his grandparents. 

But now his beloved Grammy and Grandad were gone and Alan was being shipped back to the states to a family he didn’t know.


End file.
